P X Duke

Biography

Aviator. Motorcycle rider. Vagabond. Drifter. Trouble-maker. Jack of all trades and master of none. I've been riding and writing about the places I've been and the people I've seen for a few years now. Some of my writing is factual; some of it isn't. I'll leave it up to you to decide for yourself which lies are the truth.

Smashwords Interview

What's the story behind your latest book?

I'm currently working on a couple of shorts to add to the Jim Nash chronicles. One of them will be out in time for Halloween, and will involve a character that has previously been introduced in "Greetings from Key West." The other short is standard Jim Nash and Allie Sands fare. It will be issued shortly.

What motivated you to become an indie author?

I published a couple of shorts on my personal web site back in the late '90s. They weren't downloadable. All were text-based, sans covers. Readers had to peruse them live on the web. When self-publishing took off, I rewrote and re-edited several and published them for downloading. The fact that I could get what I thought were great covers from independent artists only enhanced my personal experience in self-publishing.

Where to find P X Duke online

Series

Jim Nash is a former big-city detective who decides to retire to the relative calm of a small town on the Florida panhandle. Circumstance catches up to him and he is forced to become embroiled with the Feds in capers that lead to the death of his wife and unborn child.

Russell finally accepts that he has escaped the purging of humanity from the city He hunkers down in an abandoned house in a suburb far from the city’s center. In the mess left behind, managing for his day-to-day needs occupies every waking hour. When he accidentally encounters someone else doing the same, he sets out to discover who it is that is trapped in a situation not dissimilar to his own.

Jim is back, and this time he’s bent on revenge for his murdered wife. With a drowned hitch-hiker in tow who manages to convince him that he should drop everything and help her find her missing brother, Jim is drawn into the woman’s world of crooked friends, sicarios, and her innocent parents. Before he can say no, he finds her in his bed, in his life, and in no mood for him to say no to anything.

Marina Mystery, Twisted Sisters, and Sleeping with a .45 have previously been published as standalone short stories.
Detective Jim Nash encounters a plethora of dead bodies, women, and complications in his personal life. He chooses to retire from the force in order that he can concentrate all of his time on the solving the case of the dead woman found in his bed.

Gun Crazy 3 continues in the vein of the previous Gun Crazy collections. Jim Nash and company and their antics continue to befuddle and amuse. Includes Vendetta #9, A Girl's Best Friend #10, Dead End #11, No Harbor #12, Dog Days #13, and Startup blues #14. Thanks to all who continue to purchase and read.

The position of chief of police isn't everything it's cracked up to be. Bored with desk duty, Jim takes a short leave to use his P.I. license to help two sisters in their time of need. Persons unknown are harassing and threatening their startup business. To find out who, his quest leads him to gator country in the Florida Everglades, where he must separate business from pleasure.

Jim Nash is as content as he’s ever been—that is, until he manages to get himself arrested thanks to the new girl that has come into his life. While being held on trumped-up charges of murder, all the women in his life come together to post bond. With the local PD’s enthusiasm to pin the crime on him, he is forced into honoring payback in a form he will find very familiar.

Jim Nash is well on his way to a complete recovery. He's in his second marriage and very happy. His job at the resort is secure. Then a blast from his past re-emerges and threatens to throw a wrench into his plans for the future. Will his bond with the new woman in his life be endangered? Jim is forced to making choices that could forever affect the new life he has chosen for himself.

Following in the footsteps of Gun Crazy #1, this edition is a collection of more Jim Nash Adventure stories: Lost Paradise #4, No Angels #5, Mexico Gamble #6, and No Picnic #7. Jim Nash ends up skirting the law, unskirting women, and generally following in the footsteps of mayhem and destruction as it chases him around the Caribbean.

A missing teenager draws Jim back to the scene of the crime in Mexico where Kara, his pregnant wife, was killed in an explosion aboard their sloop. He’s needed the intervening two years to get over the life-changing event, but now he’s ready to take another look. He crosses the border and lands an exceptional deal on a rental car. Now all he has to do is find two missing girls.

In Harry and Mike's most recent foray, Lie Cheat Steal, the duo is forced one more time into taking on the monumental task of tracking down the women they love and returning them to the fold - turnout jackets and bikinis be damned.

Jim has a brand new Private Investigator’s license, but he can’t use it in Nassau. After a briefing in the Big Apple on the diamond market, he heads off to the sunny paradise to try and dissuade a friend from flashing a blue diamond at one of his infamous parties. Minus a guest list for the forty partiers, they’re all suspects in the investigation.

Nash turns himself into an insurance investigator tasked with discovering whether the death of a former drug dealer is cause for concern regarding a life insurance payout. The policy can’t be paid until Nash has finished his investigation into the old man’s life. Along the way, Jim somehow manages to fall in love with the personable beneficiary. Secrets and lies conspire against Jim until the end.

Frank Ross has had his fill of the big city and bright lights. On his way to the Colorado, he catches sight of a diner in a small high-desert town he’s passing through. His decision to stop in for pie is rewarded when the friendly waitress tells him about the job posting next door. He fills out an application for a part-time job in the old-school bike shop, and his life is forever changed.

Jim Nash never learned to swim, but that doesn’t stop him from continuing to be caught up in one misguided scheme after another south of the border. Water, boats, and women in bikinis continue to figure prominently in his endless quest for some semblance of normality in his life. A drug cartel and a female assassin conspire to prevent Jim from finding a future with the woman he loves.

Jim is back in Mexico to come to the aid of a former flame that just happens to be handy with a knife. This time, he’s starting out with a boatload of trouble already on board. Two women who won’t allow him to say no to their demands insist on coming along for the ride. It’s a foregone conclusion that this trip will definitely not be going well for Jim. Jim Nash Adventure #7.

A beautiful woman. A knife-throwing sister. An unpaid debt. Jim Nash is long on memory and short on forgiveness in this Mexican adventure featuring boats, women, good times, and bad fortune for at least one of his girlfriend Allie’s former employees.

Jim is tasked by an old friend for assistance in cleaning up part of a gunrunning operation created by government mismanagement. He dives full throttle into Mexican waters, only to encounter the mysterious yacht Captain and crew that will transport him to his rendezvous with trouble and death.

Jim and Allie end up investigating a double homicide while vacationing on an island resort paradise owned by a venture capitalist Jim once cleared of a murder charge. Fourth in the Jim Nash adventure series.

Here’s one of Jim Nash’s favorite Halloween short reads. Don’t be put off by the scary-looking image. It’s suitable to read to the little ones over a couple of nights as Halloween approaches.
On All Hallows’ Eve, Lily hears an old ghost story about Captain Kidd and his merry band of buccaneers burying booty on Pirate Cay. With childish steadfastness, she is determined to go treasure hunting with

Allie manages to talk Jim into a vacation in the Keys, where trouble finds them once again when they cross paths with a woman and her little girl being harassed by the locals. It’s not long before Zelda’s tracking abilities are called upon to restore things as they should be. Third in the Jim Nash adventure series.

Retired detective Jim Nash is headed for a much-needed vacation with the two favorite women in his life. When he pulls off the highway into a rest stop, his girlfriend disappears without leaving a trace. Left to his own devices when the local PD refuses to let him file a missing persons report, Nash pulls out all the stops in his attempt to find the missing woman all by himself. Jim Nash #2.

Frank’s phone rarely rings. When it does, he usually lets whoever is on the other end go to voice mail. This time is different, and after hanging up, he is forced to ride three hundred miles out of his way in the dark of night to get to a stranger asking for his help. After a trip through a truck stop populated by lot lizards, Frank learns the truth about the lost soul he is searching for.

Retired Detective Jim Nash is headed for a long-awaited vacation in the Florida Keys when he checks his messages and discovers that an old flame needs his help. After a brief consult with Zelda, the new woman in his life, Jim heads west to Panama Cay where he becomes embroiled in the rough seas and rocky shores of drugs, guns and money. First in the Jim Nash adventure series.

In this short story, Santa, Jim Nash, his partner Allie, and faithful companion Zelda put a modern spin on the age-old question of what to give for Christmas as they help a grief-stricken family overcome obstacles in their pursuit of home ownership against a bank set on destroying every last vestige of the family’s pride.

Updated and re-issued, this collection of short stories hits all the high spots-or the low spots, depending on one’s point of view. There’s a visit to a strip club off the 15 in Montana; an encounter with a hitch-hiker on the 10 in New Mexico; romancing a truck-driving sweetheart in a sleeper at a California truck stop; a smile from a reformed addict in North Dakota.

Five short stories that range over subjects as diverse as road rules for riding, going home again, the horror of realizing that you know a grave robber, and murder in the desert. Some content has been previously published.

Harry must put his new life on hold to return to the Dark Continent one last time in an attempt to discover why someone he thinks long dead is still alive and asking for his help. Third short novel in a series. Retitled. Previously published as "Payback".

Frank Ross is back on the road with a reformed junkie on the run from a cartel hit squad riding bitch on the back of his motorcycle. When the duo end up working at a strip club, the seedy edge of the city finally catches up, forcing Frank to dig deep within to triumph over drugs, greed, arson and murder. Some adult content.

When Harry’s ex-wife, Sasha, and their daughter accompany her oil-company boyfriend on a working vacation to Africa, the trio goes missing. They get out a call for help that will lead Harry on an air and ground chase across the Horn of Africa to rescue his family before kidnappers can move them to their den on the Indian Ocean.

During Harry’s well-deserved R&R on mainland Mexico, he picks up something he doesn’t own that forces him to flee across the Sea of Cortez to the Baja. While hiding out on an isolated beach, two mysterious gringas show up to complicate Harry’s life by attempting to implicate him in their own scheme, resulting in a mad dash up the Baja to escape the consequences of their actions.

Frank Ross is headed down Mexico way, but first he must escape the high desert and the clutches of a sweet-talking, nimble little thing that has spun her web and led him down the road to good intentions gone bad. Following a trial by fire, Frank manages to get back on the road, but not before narrowly escaping a damsel in much distress when he refuses to take her along for the ride. Adult Content.

Frank Ross is headed home after spending a long winter on the Baja. When his motorcycle breaks down, he’s trapped in an old ghost town on the west side of the Salton Sea. A woman takes pity on Frank and invites him over for a home-cooked meal. Before he knows it, Frank is knee-deep in cartel drugs with a woman itching to pull the trigger on the gun she’s pointing at his back.